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Service and technology top diners’ future wish list

Attentive service and the ability to choose the exact time restaurants serve our meals top the list of diners’ desires for the future.

Personalisation is a key focus for Brits with 71 per cent wanting individual and observant service and almost half (47 per cent) hoping to curate their entire restaurant experience in future years.

A number of diners would like to be in charge of everything from selecting their exact restaurant table (43 per cent), having cameras to view the kitchens (18 per cent) and choosing the background music (16 per cent).

The stats were found in the latest Quarterly Dining Trends Report from Bookatable which suggested that Brits will want a faster and more flexible dining experience in the coming years.

Two out of five (40 per cent) Brits want to be able to choose the precise time that their food is served, a quarter (24 per cent) would like a hologram or plate projection to show the potential portion size, 21 per cent wish to see an ingredients list and 15 per cent said they would be more inclined to try dishes by ordering 3D printed meal samples.

Diners would also like to see more efficient payment systems, including mobile payment services (20 per cent) or digital dining devices similar to Oyster cards (24 per cent), while 39 per cent would like the bill to be automatically split between larger groups.

Speaking about the survey, Joe Steele, Chief Executive Officer at Bookatable, said: “More and more restaurants are looking to elevate the customer experience with convenience being at the forefront of future innovation. We can definitely see a shift in how restaurants are using technology.”

In other foodie news, Brits appear to be spending more than ever on out-of-home (OOH) breakfasts, with the average morning bill rising by 31 per cent in the past eight years to £3.30.

However, the stats from the NPD Group show that the typical spend on lunches has increased at a far slower pace of 6.5 per cent since 2008 to an average of £4.57.